Wednesday, April 30, 2008
RI to Host Basel Convention Confab
Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia will host the 9th Conference of Parties (COP-9) to the Basel Convention at the Bali International Convention Center (BICC) on June 23-27 to discuss enhanced cooperation in curbing trade in hazardous wastes.

The meeting would be participated in by government representatives from countries which had ratified the convention, the United Nations Information Center (UNIC) said in a press statement issued on Wednesday.

The Basel Convention is the most comprehensive international agreement governing the management of hazardous waste and controlling the trans boundary movement of hazardous waste among countries.

The issue of trade in and trans boundary movement of hazardous waste came into the spotlight at the end of 1970s and early in the 1980s due to the movement of hazardous waste from developed countries to impoverished nations which could not afford to process the waste.

Signed on March 22, 1989, the convention began to take effect on May 5, 1992. By June 2006, 168 countries had ratified the convention.